I'll Try
by Singer of Water
Summary: A look at May's memories of her childhood and moments as she's grown up to the song I'll Try. A little Jack/OC


**So I was listening to I'll Try from Peter Pan Return to Neverland and I had this idea for a oneshot come to mind for the some background story of my OC for Rise of the Guardians. Also I had seen a quick oneshot for Jamie with this song and I thought it was cute so I wanted to write my own. So here it is and I hope you enjoy it.**

_**I am not a child now. I can take care of myself. I mustn't let them down now, mustn't let them see me cry. 'Cause I'm fine. I'm fine.**_

"Mommy! Mommy! I lost a tooth!" May said, running into the kitchen with a tooth on hand and blood coming from her mouth; a wide smile on her face.

Her mother gasped, but eventually laughed. She grabbed a towel, running it over water. "That's great sweetie. Remember to put it under your pillow for the Tooth Fairy," she said as she cleaned the blood off the seven year old.

"I will!" May said, bouncing up and down. "This time I'm going to see her. I'm gonna stay up and have a flashlight with me and and and I'm gonna see her!"

Mrs. Henderson laughed. "I don't know. She could be like Santa and not come if you're awake."

"But that's why I will fake sleep when she does come!" May said, her green eyes beaming. "I wanna meet her!"

_**I'm too tired to listen. I'm too old to believe all these childish stories. There is no such thing as faith and trust and pixie dust.**_

May had woken up to find herself curled up on top of her blankets cuddling the flashlight she had with her that night. She rubbed her eyes before she gasped. She crawled from the foot of her bed to her pillow and threw it off to the side. Laying there was a small white tooth. May gasped yet again.

"B-bu-b-but... Did she see me awake? Oh no! Bu-but I-I didn't stay up. I-I fell asleep..."

Tears began to sting May's eyes as she stared at the tooth before her. The Tooth Fairy hadn't come. But wasn't it her job to collect all the children's teeth, so...why not hers?

She trudged down the stairs and fell into her seat at the kitchen table, staring at the plate if eggs in front of her. Her mother smiled as she placed a glass of apple juice in front of her. "Morning, May. Did you catch the Tooth Fairy?"

May stayed quiet, still staring at her food. A few stray tears escaped and slid down her cheeks. "No..."

"Well, let's see that shiny new quarter," her mother said sitting down next to her.

"I don't have one..."

Her mother blinked and stared at her daughter for a second. "Did she give you a dollar or something?"

"She didn't come."

_**I try, but it's so hard to believe. I try, but I can't see where you see. I'll try. I'll try. I'll try.**_

Her mother smiled. "Maybe she'll come tomorrow night. She was probably busy last night and forgot you and some other children."

"Maybe...," May said, a smile twitching at her lips as her hopes came back.

That night she repeated her process. She stuck her tooth under her pillow and held a flashlight in her hand, prepared to see the Tooth Fairy. But the next morning the same thing happened. There was no quarter under her pillow, but her tooth. May tried again for another night, but no such luck.

Why wasn't the Tooth Fairy coming? Was she like Santa and didn't show up to children who stayed up or were bad. But she wasn't bad. She did what she was told and spoke kindly to adults and others. So why, then, was the Tooth Fairy not coming?

_**My whole world is changing. I don't know where to turn. But I can't stay and watch the city burn. Watch it burn.**_

"May! May! May! May!"

May lifted her head from under her pillow. Her eyes were still shut and she felt groggy. She turned her head to see her little sister Rachel standing next to her bed smiling at her.

"G'mornin', Rachel. Wha time is it?"

"It's seven thirty, I think," Rachel said.

May groaned. "Why are you getting me up so early?" She put her pillow back over her head as she hid in her bed.

"It's Easter!" Rachel said, throwing her hands in the air. "That means the Easter Bunny came and hid eggs!" She grabbed her older sister's arm. "Come on, May. Please," she pleaded, elongating the please.

May sighed, but smiled. "Alright, alright," she said as she climbed out of bed.

The two girls raced downstairs and began the hunt for Easter eggs. Their parents came down a minute later, their dad with a video camera.

Eventually May say down next to her mom as Rachel and their dad finished the hunt. Her mom smiled and gave May a side hug.

"Miss being that young?"

"A bit, but I guess I was bound to grow up and change. I couldn't continue believing in Santa and everyone else, you know?" May said watching as Rachel ran through the living room with an egg in each hand. "But it doesn't mean I can't have Rachel stop believing until she's old enough. I just gotta believe in the spirit of the holidays."

Her mother laughed. "Spoken like a true poet."

May rolled her eyes and laughed as Rachel pulled her off the couch to help find the eggs. May might be in high school and too old to believe in the Easter Bunny, but where would the fun be in the holidays if you didn't believe in the spirit of the holidays? And that's what she does: believe not in the legends, but the spirit behind the legends.

_**'Cause I try, but it's so hard to believe. I try, but I can't see where you see. I'll try. I'll try. I'll try.**_

May sighed as she watched Rachel play in the snow. She was in high school sixteen now and Rachel was six. She was so innocent and care free. Nothing to worry about. May was jealous of that. She missed having nothing to worry about. She missed believing in everything as a kid. Things like Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, even the Sandman. She missed those days. She missed the excitement of seeing presents on Christmas morning, hunting for Easter eggs, finding a shiny new quarter under her pillow after losing a tooth.

"May, come make a snowman with me!" Rachel called out.

May smiled and started helping her sister push a large amount of snow for the base of the snowman. Once it was done the sisters looked at their work, admiring it.

She may miss the days of her childhood, but she still got to be a part of Rachel's childhood. She had memories to hold onto as well and memories that she could create with her little sister.

_**I try and try to understand the distance in between. The love I feel the things I fear and every single dream.**_

May rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe that after years of never believing and not even hearing of the legendary figure Jack Frost that she was talking to him. It didn't make sense. It shouldn't make sense. And yet here they were walking through the park talking. Well, May was more or less getting annoyed with the winter spirit. He had thrown a snowball at her a minute ago after she had called him childish.

"You're calling me childish?" he said. He laughed. "That's funny. The way I see it, you're childish for still not believing in the fact that you're talking to me, right here, right now."

"The way you act is childish!" May retorted. "It seems from what I've heard about you and the Guardians," she air quoted the word guardians making Jack roll his eyes," You seem to be a trickster who enjoys nothing more than just laying back, doing nothing and just goofing off."

"How'd you know?" Jack asked with a smirk.

"You're childish. If you have responsibilities you should follow through with them."

"You know you sound just like a girl from my village when I was still alive- well before I became Jack Frost."

May tilted her head a bit and raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said you had no memory of your past aside from the memory of how you died?"

"Oh so you were listening?" Jack said with a smile. He laughed as May glared at him. "Kidding. Yes, I did, but the weird thing is that the first day I saw you with Jamie you somehow seemed familiar. A few days ago I had visited Tooth to help with teeth collecting. Since Tooth is the guardian of memories I was able to see mine. Turns out you look just like this girl I uh...well kinda liked...back at my village...," he said, mumbling the last part.

"Really?" May asked. This actually intrigued her. "Who was she? What was she like?"

Jack laughed. "Now you want me to talk?" He laughed as he began recounting his past, trying to remember the small bits of memory he had seen at Tooth's.

_**I can finally see it. Now I have to believe all those previous stories. All the world is made of faith and trust and pixie dust.**_

May sat on her bed, her back against the wall and her knees pulled up to her chest. She rested her head on her knees as she silently cried. How could so much go wrong? It didn't make sense. None if it did! But why did it happen? Why did it happen to her?

Drama happened at school with her best friend, well someone who she thought was her best friend. She had found out that her crush since freshman year asked had her best friend out. Her best friend! Sally knew that May had liked him for so long. Although she always thought Sally had an attitude that made her seem like she thought she was all that. Then there was the mid-term exam for calculus. She wasn't ready for it. No she was, but everything she had studied for it dust look like it was on the exam at all. She was sure to fail her class. Then came lunch where a kid spilled all of his lunch on her. All in all it was probably the worst day of her life.

A soft breeze blew through her room, ruffling her hair slightly. She didn't have to look up to know who it was, especially with the chill in the air.

"Hey, May. What's up?" Jack greeted with a smile as he sat on top of the chair at her desk. His smile turned to a frown as the red head didn't look up at him, but kept her face hidden in her. He jumped down and walked over to her. "May, what's wrong?"

May sniffed as she looked at the winter spirit in front of her. "Too many things."

"What happened?" Jack asked with concern in his eyes.

May inhaled, her breath shuddering. "My best friend is dating this guy I had a crush on and she knew I liked him, I think I failed my math exam, and to top it all some kid spilled his lunch on me," she said gesturing to her stained shirt.

Normally Jack would have laughed at the fact that she had food spilled all over someone, but this was May. And not only that, but she was heartbroken. Even though he had live for three hundred years this kind of situation he had no idea what to say.

But he did know what he could do.

"Hey, May," he said smiling warmly at her. "How would you like to go somewhere. Somewhere that could take your mind off of everything?"

_**So I'll try, 'cause I can finally believe. I'll try, 'cause I can see where you see. I'll try. I'll try. I will try. I'll try.**_

Mary's eyes grew wide as she looked around the large room. Everywhere she looked elves and yetis were making toys. Well mostly the yetis. An hour ago Jack had picked her up and flew all the way to the North Pole, glided on the wind really as Jack explained. Now she was here in Santa's toy shop. With elves. And yetis. It was unbelievable. This stuff only existed in stories and legends not in real life. That's what she had been told at least.

"Jack...is this really..."

Jack grinned as he took her hand and led her thorough the shop, greeting a few of the yetis.

"I thought elves made the toys?" she said.

Jack laughed. "No. The big man just makes them believe that. Have you seen the little guys try to make toys?" He said tilting his head at a group of elves in the corner playing with tree lights and electrocuting them. "They always do that," he said, shaking his head.

Jack led her through two large- and tall- doors. Inside was a large room with tall shelves and a big desk in the back. Sitting at the desk working on a few toys was Santa Claus. _The_ Santa Claus.

May gasped and looked at Jack who just smirked. "Is that really Santa?"

"Yep. Hey, North!" Jack yelled making the big man jump in his seat.

"Wha- Jack Frost! Good to see you!" North said with a big smile as he walked over to the two. He hugged the teen boy and laughed. "What have you been up to?" He then noticed May. "And you must be May Henderson."

May looked up at North with her mouth wide open in disbelief. Of course she wasn't surprised that he knew her name, he was Santa. It was the fact that _it_ _was_ Santa. Jack laughed which snapped her out of her trance. North chuckled and smiled at May.

"What brings you to my shop?" he asked.

"Uh I...you're real...," was all May could say.

Jack rolled his eyes and smirked. "May had a bad day so I thought your shop was the best place to take things off her mind," Jack explained.

"Ah," North said with a heavy sigh. "How would tour of the shop sound?"

"Uh great!" May said with a smile, her eyes brightening up.

North led the two teens out of his office and began the tour through the shop.

"Wait until Rachel hears about this," May said, looking around again in awe.

"How would like to meet the Easter Kangaroo next?" Jack asked with a laugh as May gave him a confused look. "How would like to meet the Easter Bunny next?"

May leaned over and quickly kissed Jack on the cheek. The guardian froze and looked at the girl next to him, shocked.

"Thank you, Jack," May said.

"No problem," Jack said with a soft smile.

They quickly caught up with North, both sharing a smile with each other.

_**To fly**_


End file.
